4 men face cheating charges over entry access to Ed Sheeran’s concert

SINGAPORE — Four men were charged in court on Tuesday (Nov 14) with deceiving an event organiser’s representative into giving them and unsuspecting concert-goers access to British singer Ed Sheeran’s concert.

The two-night concert held at the Singapore Indoor Stadium over the weekend was sold out.

Britons Luke Simon McKay, 49, and Martin Joseph Keane, 60, as well as New Zealanders Scott Fabian Antony Penk, 34, and Michael Stanton Hardgrave, 30, face one charge each of cheating.

Court documents showed that at about 7pm on Sunday (Nov 12), McKay allegedly tricked Connie Shiao, a representative from concert organiser AEG Asia, into allowing him and two unidentified persons to attend the concert.

He supposedly used fake work passes, pretending to be authorised personnel for the event, as part of the deception. Court documents stated that he induced Ms Shiao to “deliver... valid entry into the concert for two people valued at S$500”.

Keane, Penk and Hardgrave allegedly used the same method to get six other people into the concert. The value of the entry fee ranged from S$200 to S$300.

In a press release on Monday (Nov 13), the police said that its preliminary investigations showed the men charged unsuspecting concert-goers an entry fee to escort them into the venue.

The police had received a call the day before about someone selling fake concert passes at the indoor stadium. The four men were arrested later. They are remanded for further investigations and will return to court on Nov 21.

If convicted of cheating, the men can each be jailed up to three years, or fined, or both.